Ashley River birds threatened by vehicles

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Northern Outlook

By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter

Volunteers fear for the welfare of birds at the Ashley River Estuary as ‘‘hoons’’ are caught on camera tearing through nesting sites.

Waimakariri district councillor Al Blackie says volunteers are fed up with people driving around nesting sites with no regard for the welfare of threatened species of birds.

‘‘We do have a bylaw, but there is not much we can do until they actually do some harm - other than naming and shaming them on social media.’’

Blackie said the council’s Pegasus Bay Bylaw Committee, which he chairs, would be reviewing the bylaw soon and was keen to hear any suggestions of how to better manage the area.

Ashley Rakahuri Rivercare Group operations manager Grant Davey said nesting birds were threatened by four-wheel-drives, helicopters hovering in the area and predators such as rats, cats and dogs.

Threatened birds included wrybills, black-bill gulls, banded dotterels, black-fronted terns and pied oystercatchers.

Some of these bird species were also endangered.

He said the presence of these multiple threats could scare the birds off, and lead them to abandoning their nests.

‘‘Along the river, we have most access points blocked, but there are areas we cannot block like State Highway 1 near the estuary.

‘‘Access is allowed for white baiters and some of them are pretty horrified by what is happening, and most of them are pretty helpful. They yell at the hoons and report it back to us.

‘‘You’ve got hoons who drive around all over the place and do donuts and sometimes it is in the early hours of the morning.’’

Motion sensor cameras have been placed in the nesting areas to monitor the presence of rats and cats, but they also picked up vehicles - and sometimes even the number plates.

Davey said Environment Canterbury’s rangers did an excellent job, but there was not enough of them.

‘‘They go and talk to people and give them a warning, but there is not much you can do.’’

Anyone caught harming the nesting birds could be fined or serve time in jail, but prosecutions were expensive, he said.

‘‘If you catch someone like the person who shot a white heron recently then you can prosecute them, but you are unlikely to actually catch people doing something like that.’’

Davey said dogs running loose were also a threat, with people ignoring or not reading signs.

‘‘It is usually perfectly respectable people doing it, but they just don’t understand.’’

The Rivercare group has received funding from the Waimakariri Zone Committee to fund a researcher to complete a thesis to better understand the full extent of the multiple threats to the birds.

■ The Ashley Rakahuri Rivercare Group is looking for volunteers for its annual bird count on the Ashley Rakahuri River on Saturday, November 19, at the Cones Road picnic area from 8.30am.

‘‘We like to have about 25 people, preferably with some ability to identify braided river birds including the wrybill, banded dotterel, pied stilt, black-fronted tern and black-billed gull,’’ organiser Beverley Alexander said.

‘‘If people are interested, but have little knowledge of the birds they can come along and we will partner them with others who have done the count previously.’’

Volunteers formed into teams, with each team taking a couple of hours to walk their designated zone.

Wet feet were guaranteed, but volunteers were rewarded with a barbecue.

Anyone interested can register by contacting Beverley Alexander on 027-3184713 or email birdiebev@xtra.co.nz.

■ Public interest journalism funded through New Zealand on Air.